Despite whatever you’ve heard, parenting teens does not have to be hard and painful. If you follow a few important things, parenting your teen can be a joyful time in your lives, and a great building block to a positive future as adults together. Here are some helpful bits of advice for parenting teens.

Work For A Positive Relationship With Each Teenager

Try to have a good relationship with your teen. Be sure to be kind and courteous with them, and treat them with respect. They flourish with consistency and warmth, and fostering these qualities will help them have better feelings of self-worth, social abilities, and a spiritual connectedness to the world.

Be Interested In Their Activities

Oh, I know, you’re busy enough with your own life, who has time to keep track of their teens? But parenting is all about going above and beyond, so find a way to stay involved with your teen. It is a great way to keep better tabs on their behavior – school and leisure time – and to enforce the family’s rules (which hopefully your children were involved in setting) and the consequences for not following them. Also, if you are able to listen to your teenager talk about her friends and what’s going on in her life, she will be much more likely to talk to you if there is a problem she wants help with, or even just to run by you for input or an “instinct check.” It is over time of parenting that teens develop a trust in us, their parents, and become more willing to share things that are otherwise kept private.

Have Boundaries And Limits

While teens may say they want no rules or limits in their life, they actually appreciate knowing where the line is. They need to know what is expected of them, and how far is too far. Teens appreciate parenting with firm boundaries to behavior, and they will often rise to the high standards they help set.

Encourage Your Teen Towards Independence

Teens whose parenting stresses the value of thinking for themselves and considering consequences prior to acting, will have a healthy sense of their value in life. They will also be more able to resist peer pressure, which can be highest during the teen years. Parenting skills that point out when their teens make wise choices can help their teen learn to see for themselves what the right choices are. As the parent, if you give your teens the encouragement to think for themselves, and help them recognize wise choices they’ve made, they will grow to have a healthy level of independence. They will be skilled at making decisions that are in their best interest – while not hurting anyone else.

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